Much of our suffering and psychological problems we face are due to the fact that we are using ancient cognitive machinery to deal with the complexities of the modern world. Humans evolved though a process called natural selection in which genes that were best suited for their respective environments were passed on to the next … More Mindfulness and Evolutionary Psychology: A Primer
The value of silence … More The Importance of Silence
I have a love-hate relationship with thinking. Sometimes, I get in these kinds of flow states where I follow my train of thought – connecting the dots along the way. When I follow my thoughts in this way, I find it euphoric. I often derive my best writing doing so. This is all well and … More Stuck in the Clouds: An Aviator’s Guide to Pointless Overthinking
As humans we spend most of our lives in a state of perpetual craving and desire. We land a big promotion at work, but soon fantasize about continuing to move up the corporate ladder. We become consumed by discontent and dissatisfaction as we constantly compare our social standing to that of our peers. Wealth, status … More Escaping the Rat Race: Lessons from Buddhism
Today is your last day on earth. How are you going to spend it? What are you going to say? What will you let go of? I look forward to hearing your answers. *** You can find AP2’s personal blog here at: https://clear-air-turbulence.com You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com Or on Twitter at: @AnxiousPilot
If there is anything that we seem to fear most in this world, it is uncertainty. The great unknown, the darkness that lies in the abyss. Uncertainty about how the future will unfold is the source of many of our anxieties. This is because we desperately crave certainty. We dream of secure and orderly lives … More How to Manage Uncertainty: Lessons from Philosophy
In aviation we have a term called AOG that means Aircraft on Ground. It refers to a plane that can’t fly because of a technical issue. We might also say a pilot is grounded because of a disciplinary issue, or that passengers are grounded because of weather. In all cases, the term indicates an inability … More Grounded
The other night I got into a pointless argument with someone after they decided to leave a comment on one of my older posts telling me that I should have my head examined. (A fair point in retrospect.) She said that Trump is a true American unlike Biden who is a horrible person. Naturally, she went on … More Between a Rock and a Hard Place
Here’s a question for discussion: Is ego really the enemy? I look forward to hearing your thoughts. *** You can find AP2’s personal blog here at: https://clear-air-turbulence.com
“Your perception of me, is a reflection of you. My reaction to you is an awareness of me.” – Unknown. What do you do when you look at yourself in the mirror? Maybe you comb your hair or have a shave. Maybe you brush and floss your teeth. Maybe you correct your posture. Maybe you examine … More The People Mirror Effect
Growing up my dad always made a point about having good table manners. He made sure we never chewed food with our mouths open. That we always sat up straight. That we we set the table properly and cleared away and washed the dishes afterwards. One of the rules was if you didn’t cook, you … More Table(t) Manners
A life is infinitesimal in the grand scheme of things. When you zoom the lens out, when you consider the enormity of existence. A life is but a speck in the vastness of time and space. A life is nothing. It matters not a jot. But when you zoom the lens in, past all of … More The Meaning Of Your Life
“The great gift of such periods is that they invite us to question our certitudes, our givens, these seemingly sure foundations that have lulled us into complacency — for it is only by being jolted out of our complacencies, cultural or personal, that we ever reach beyond the horizon, toward new territories of truth, beauty, … More The Things That I Will Miss
That’s the most liberating, wonderful thing in the world, when you openly admit you’re an ass. It’s wonderful. When people tell me, “You’re wrong.” I say, “What can you expect of an ass?” S.J. ANTHONY DE MELLO – SOURCE: AWARENESS The vast majority of conversations consist of two people trying to have their egos validated by … More The Secret Ingredient Missing From Every Conversation
Yesterday I ate a piece of chocolate. Just a single square, wrapped in a golden foil. It had been chilled in the fridge. I like sweets this way. The cold and creamy sweetness danced on my taste buds. I savored it. For it was just another fleeting moment in time. . . . SnapDragon is … More SnapDragon Speaks: On The Moment.
Come one, come all! Come see the spectacle that is K, the Forgotten! A sad girl who you won’t feel for as she slips from my/our minds. When one forgets, does that allow to begin anew? Perhaps when one forgets themselves… Does forgetting create an absence of the mind, or is it data overwritten? I’m … More A series of questions
Meditation and mindfulness have been part of my life for the last three years or so, but recently I fell out of practice. This is what made me decide to attend the mindfulness classes we have on campus twice a semester., each time lasting for five weeks I hope that it will be a force … More Forms of Meditation
Hey there! It is Betul again, but this time I am not going to talk about languages. I am going to talk about another major interest of mine: human mind. Specifically, my mind. This is going to be about the beginning of my conscious self-discovery period, which is pretty much still going on now. By … More Peace with Past
Each action we make involves some energy, but where is all that energy coming from? You surely noticed that we feel more energized when we do certain actions compared with others even though no additional energy came in. It seems that whenever we like something, we somehow find more energy to invest in … More Your Emotion is Your Energy
According to Wikipedia, “Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment.” I’m sure most of you have heard about this and you practice it from time to time. I myself do also practice it from time to time and it is a constant battle between present … More A few words about Mindfulness